Note: Seeing Firewind live will not cause actual breaking of fire wind.

Hey, so remember last month when we told you that Firewind were doing a North American headlining tour with support coming from Arsis, White Wizzard, and Nightrage? Well, that tour has an itinerary now, and that itinerary is after the jump. No need to thank me, I get paid to do this.

In all seriousness: Besides a very small handful of dates last fall, this is the first time Firewind has visited this part of the world in quite some time, so I imagine there’s a reasonable amount of you who have never had the chance to see them live before. You should take advantage of this opportunity. Not only is Firewind fun (I don’t even really like power metal and I like Firewind), but this your chance to see Gus G. shred his brains out without an old man frog hopping around the stage and ruining it for everyone.

Also, Arsis! White Wizzard! Nightrage! Okay so I’ve never really been that into Nightrage, but still! Strong line-up.

And so, the tour dates…

Click to read more…

If “Ruination of the Lost,” the new Unearth track we debuted a couple of weeks back, got you all hot n’ bothered, then have I got some news for you: Lambgoat is now streaming another new Unearth tune, “Watch it Burn.” In a statement that accompanies the debut, vocalist Trevor Phipps notes that the song features “a melodic bridge late in the song much like some of our older material.” Unless my pot-addled brain is forgetting an obvious example from the last couple of Unearth albums, it really has been some time since the band experimented with clean vocals; I’m very curious to see if fans get into it now, or throw a total hissy-fit. I’m guessing it will be the latter, but maybe I’m not giving them enough credit.

Headbang here, and then do or do-not throw such a hissy fit in our comments section. Unearth’s latest offering, Darkness in the Light, on July 5 via Metal Blade. The band will been on  the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival this summer along with Megadeth, Machine Head, In Flames, Trivium, Suicide Silence, All Shall Perish, Kingdom of Sorrow, Red Fang, and some other bands whose sets you can use as time for napping/drinking/beating the post-show parking lot traffic jam. Unearth pits are crazy places, so be careful out there, kids!

-AR

Thanks to reader Ryan Durinick for sending in two songs by Powerwolf, a band that’s “extremely popular in Europe and are touring a shitload of cities with names that have triple vowels and O’s with crosses through them.” Based on that description and the band name alone I’d wager that Powerwolf play epic metal, and I’d be right; I’ll also add that they’ve got a serious boner for Iron Maiden but their music sports modern production. I’m definitely digging these tunes. Thanks, Ryan!

Now, about that video of a naked fat chick on PCP terrorizing someone’s street (as well as another Powerwolf song):

Click to read more…

We’ve published our list. Now it’s your turn.

We’re going to do this the same way we’ve done this in the past: rather than post a regular poll with hundreds of options, we’re going to conduct this poll via the comments. Here are the instructions:

Step 1) Decide who your favorite modern metal guitarist is. Remember that only candidates who have recorded and released new material within the past five years are eligible.

Step 2) Search the comments of this post for your choice (Apple-F on a Mac, Control-F on a PC).

Step 3) If your favorite modern metal guitarist is already listed, hit the “reply” button underneath and simply post “+1″ as your comment. If your favorite modern metal guitarist is not listed yet, add him, making sure you that you’ve spelled his name correctly.

That’s it! Sometime soon, we’ll tally up the “+1″s and declare a winner. Nothing is preventing you from adding multiple +1s, but don’t be that douche. Have fun… go!

MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. We had fun fucking with you earlier today, but now we conclude (for real) our countdown with Revocation’s David Davidson…

And so we arrive at the end. Why did Mr. Davidson make the top of this list when a cadre of fantastic musicians — including Paul Masvidal, Devin Townsend, Paul Waggoner, Matt Pike, Ryan Knight, and Marc Okubo, to name but a sampling — didn’t make the cut at all?

Why, it’s simple: All heavy metal guitar playing up until now has been leading up to the existence of David Davidson.

Click to read more…

MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we conclude our countdown with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett…

By now you have hopefully figured out that, no, we did not really select Metallica’s Kirk Hammett as the #1 Modern Metal Guitarist. His name was raised once, but then we all laughed for thirty or forty minutes, returned to the matter at hand, and picked an actual #1. To find out that guitar player’s identity, go here.

And so we arrive at the end. Why did Mr. Hammett make the top of this list when a cadre of fantastic musicians – including Paul Masvidal, Devin Townsend, Paul Waggoner, Matt Pike, Ryan Knight, and Marc Okubo, to name but a sampling — didn’t make the cut at all?

Why, it’s simple. Not only does Hammett represent the pinnacle of what a metal guitarist can achieve, but he has represented that pinnacle for nearly three decades, pretty much without interruption.

Click to read more…

So this being metal, the powers-that-be decided they wanted to shift the schedule for this tour announcement slightly. Apologies to those who were waiting impatiently for the reveal of the identity of the next band.

The good news is, many of you correctly guessed last week that the third of the four bands on the upcoming super-duper awesome tour we’re sponsoring is, indeed, DevilDriver. They’ll join the previously announced Skeletonwitch and Chtonic on the trek, which is sure to cause chaos and cruelty without beauty wherever it goes.

But who will headline this godless entity of a tour?!?! We’ll let you know one week from today — but for now, here are some clues…

• Like Skeletonwitch, two members of this band are related.
• This is their first U.S. tour in almost two years.
• They have a new album coming out very, very, VERY soon. Like, very soon.

So get with the guessin’… come next Monday, the complete line-up shall be unveiled!!!

-Axl, Vince, and Everyone at MetalSucks

At age five, Tom Araya left Chile with his family to come to America. Fifteen years after that, he joined the then-fledgling band Slayer. Thirty years after that (i.e., now), Slayer enjoys acclaim only shared by Iron Maiden in consistency and intensity. And as Maiden is fronted by the greatest metal singer of all time, Slayer has Araya, metal’s most compelling, visceral screamer. Two notes are all he needs. I’d attend NASCAR if he were the announcer; if he were a salesman, I’d buy used toilets from the dude.

Word of Araya’s skillz (and cuddly-bear disposition) seems to have reached authorities in Chile, as Friday he was granted the key to the city of Viña del Mar, his birthplace. Araya said:

Click to read more…

When I want power metal that’s fast, over-the-top, full of shred, searing keyboards and soaring vocals, I turn to Rhapsody of Fire. No one does it better. “Tornado,” the new track from the upcoming Rhapsody of Fire album From Chaos to Eternity, which comes out July 12th on Nuclear Blast, delivers 100% in that regard. It reminds me of the early material that first got me into the band back when they were just called Rhapsody. Maybe that’s because this album marks the end of an era for the band, as explained in a press release:

This historical release will end the RHAPSODY sagas once and for all after 15 years of fantasy-oriented lyrics.  For the last time, we’ll hear Sir Christopher Lee narrating in one of our albums the last dramatic events of a legendary tale started in 1997 and told through two different sages and ten full-length albums.  We are surely very sad but we also know that for this same reason, the upcoming release will remain in the history of the band for its artistic importance and unique epic!

Hmm, ok… whatever. I’m just in it for the sick tunes brah! Power Metal Party on! Stream “Tornado” from Rhapsody of Fire’s Facebook page.

-VN

Welcome to the latest edition of “Freeloader,” in which we review albums that you don’t have to feel like a douche for downloading for free. Today Satan Rosenbloom checks out four albums made by (mostly) solitary dudes.

Influential American art critic Clement Greenberg coined the term “post-painterly abstraction” to describe a movement of painters in the ‘40s and ‘50s that were abandoning traditional elements like subject matter and visible brush strokes, and instead exploring the flatness and two-dimensionality of the painter’s canvas – the things that make painting unique from other art forms. Greenberg would analyze the degree to which a painting laid these qualities bare, thus revealing a certain painterly purity and truthfulness.

The one-man metal project has been a thing at least since Bathory’s glory days. In this edition of Freeloader, I’m subjecting albums by a few recent lonely metalsmiths to a Greenbergian analysis – as in, how well does each album expose the qualities unique to the one-man metal band?

Click to read more…

Cynic’s Paul Masvidal has been on something of a hiatus from the world. Aside from a brief announcement about some Cynic lineup changes this past December, we’ve heard precious little about a supposed new Cynic album despite the fact that we presume it’s being worked on. The “summer 2011″ release hinted at in the last update is all but impossible at this point, but thanks to a Facebook update from Masvidal we’ve finally got some solid news to go on:

Ok friends, You got my attention…here’s an official update. I’ve been working away in the home studio writing lots of new songs and keeping off the grid to stay creatively focused. Apologies for having been a bit reclusive in our digital age of informational abundance! It’s safe to say that Cynic already has plenty of material for a new record, but something keeps the inspiration going to write more. I feel like I’m on for the ride and just seeing what manifests as a result of sitting on the train and looking out the window.

Click to read more…

There’s a pretty legendary story about how a pre-Primus Les Claypool auditioned for Metallica after Cliff Burton died. Of course, the job actually went to Jason Newsted, so we’ll never really know what Claytallica might have sounded like.

But we do now have this slap bass cover of “Master of Puppets” by Viaceslav Svedov, which is close enough!

Is it wrong that I really, really, actually and without irony enjoy this? I mean, what’s not to love, right? It gets “Master” stuck in my head, AND it makes me wanna get up n’ dance!

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

Making fun of juggalos is passe at this point; been there, done that, 100 times over, and everyone gets the point. But posting the annual infomercial Psychopathic Records puts out to promote the Gathering of the Juggalos is something of a ritual, always good for a few lulz, and possibly even entertaining.

Once you get through the so-uncool-at-this-point-that-maybe-it’s-cool-again Star Wars-style intro, you’ll discover that Vanilla Ice has sunken to an even lower low and is now a juggalo. In addition to the usual assortment of interchangeable clown-faced rappers, this year’s lineup also brings a whole new set of artists scraping the bottom of the barrel that’s become their career: CKY, Dope, Saliva, Vanilla Ice (obvs), Xzibit, Kittie and M.C. Hammer. In the “Are you sure you really want to stoop so low?” department we have Ice Cube, George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars and Busta Rhymes, who all must be getting hella paid. And last but not least, the comedy stage will feature Brian Posehn and classic wrestlers Iron Sheik and Rowdy Roddy Piper (zuh?).

Should be an interesting one. Perhaps an MS reader braver than us can go on an anthropological mission on August 11-14. I already had the juggalo experience of a lifetime, and I think that’s enough for me.

-VN

Last week we told you about Tower of Gopal, a satirical new band (or I guess I should say “band”) who seem pretty successful at ripping into both Scionic black metal bands and scene bands; now we’ve learned, via our buddy Sergeant D.’s Stuff You Will Hate, that not only is there a new ToG video, but the group has also launched a Kickstarter page , either to raise money to record their debut album, Party in Front, Merch in Back, or really just to make fun of ex-Attack Attack! guitarist Johnny Franck. Either way, I approve this message.

By the way, make sure you watch this video all the way through — I actually think the funniest bit comes at the end.

Here’s hoping there really is a Party in Front, Merch in Back sometime real soon.

-AR

SHAME ON ME! I almost forgot that today is June 6, a.k.a. “The Internatinal Day of Slayer,” until our friend Zena Metal reminded me (and by “me,” I mean “anyone who reads her website”). In any case, if you’re looking for a good excuse to drink Jäger until you puke and/or get right up in the face of some random person on the street and shout “SSSSLLLLAAAYYYYEEERRR!!!!“, well, now you have one. Just tell your boss you’re going home early because it’s a religious holiday. It’s cool, I’m sure he’ll understand.

To help you celebrate, here’s some video of the band in 1991, when Tom Araya could still headbang and Kerry King still had hair. WEIRD!!!

-AR

Is George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” the new Rick Roll? This morning I saw the following video at Gun Shy Assassin, allegedly of Between the Buried and Me drummer Blake Richardson, making careless whispers at the camera for a minute-plus:

Baffling, to say the least. But I really just bring it up as an excuse to post this hilarious “improv everywhere”-style viral video of “legendary” saxophone player Sergio Flores playing… well, just watch:

And now that sax line will be stuck in my head for days. Damn you, Blake.

-VN

Last week some initial dates for Opeth’s upcoming North American headlining tour got out on the interwebs; now the full itinerary for the tour has been released, along with the news that Katatonia will be providing support. So, y’know. Look. You were gonna go to one of these shows anyway, seeing as it’s Opeth, but now that Katatonia is involved, it’s really gonna be a series of can’t-miss gigs, y’know?

And what else is there to say, really? Here are those dates:

Click to read more…

We’ve previously proclaimed Khaos Legions to be Arch Enemy’s best album since 2001′s Wages of Sin, and the more I listen to it, the more confident I am in that statement. The album is just that right mix of heavy and catchy, and if you’re disappointed in the recent output from the previously-dependable Swedish melodeath scene (I’m looking at you, In Flames), then Khaos Legions should put a smile on your face.

The album is now streaming in full over at the band’s MySpace page, because apparently MySpace is still considered a thing in some circles. Give it a listen, then let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Century will release Khaos Legions tomorrow.

-AR

Last week I saw Ghost live for the first time (at the Studio at Webster Hall, which, if you’ve never been there, is a very, very small venue — I’d be surprised if I ever get to see the band play someplace that intimate ever again). I’m gonna have a live review of the show at some point this week, but for now, I will sum up the concert with but a single word: YES.

The band was here for Maryland Deathfest (where, I’m told, they also dominated) and then they did that one gig here in New York and then, sad for you, they flew home. But now it’s been announced that not only are they coming back to the U.S. this fall, but they’re coming back to the U.S. this fall to play support for Enslaved (featuring Ivar Bjørnson, #22 on our list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists), and that further support will come from France’s Alcest. I mean, WHAT A FUCKING BILL, right? This is going to be one of the most exciting tours of the fall, and you absolutely cannot miss it.

Here are dates, via Lambgoat:

Click to read more…

A few years ago there was this popular internet meme in which people took a scene from Downfall, a movie about Hitler’s final days, and re-did the subtitles so that, instead of reacting to the news that he was losing the war, The Führer seemed to be freaking out about some horribly insignificant bit of nerdery (e.g., that the end of The Watchmen movie wasn’t exactly the same as the end of The Watchmen graphic novel, etc.).

Like most memes, it got old after awhile. But our friend Mark sent us the below one over the weekend, and, well… I don’t think I have ever typed these words before, nor am I likely to ever type them again:

I AGREE WITH ADOLF HITLER 110%

-AR